Grown Up Decisions For Not So Grown Up Kids

Lianna made the decision a few months ago to not participate in Girls Soccer for high school.  On the one hand I'm proud of her for realizing that when you have too much on your plate something has to go.  On the other hand I feel sort of bitter about the fact that she had to make this decision.  Her reasoning for making the decision to cut out soccer was for several factors:

1- She works part time.  On days that she works she has to be at work at 5pm.  Soccer practice for the high school is every day right after school until 4:30.  That wouldn't allow her enough time to shower and change, as well as get to work on time.  I did ask her to see if she could cut her hours back from a 5pm start time to a 6pm start time, but she didn't want to do that.

2 - She decided to get this ferret (aka Kitty).  Kitty needs to be out of her cage at least 2 hours a day; preferably 3 to 4 hours a day.  If she has soccer then work, Kitty wouldn't be out of the cage hardly at all because Li wouldn't get home from work until 9:45 at the earliest - sometimes even as late as 10:30.

3 - Between work and Kitty she has to have some time to do her homework. While she does have a study hall during the day (took study hall in anticipation of needing it for soccer) that doesn't really allow her time to complete all her assignments.  She'd still have a few hours of homework after work.

4 - She wants to have some sort of social life.  Like I said, we discussed having her change her start time from 5pm to 6pm, but we also discussed her working during the soccer season only one day a week and then working on Saturday and Sunday.  Again, she wants to have some sort of social life and working all weekend would not allow that.

These reasons are why Li decided not to continue with soccer.  All these reasons are good and valid reasons as opposed to just not wanting to do it anymore - which really wouldn't be a bad thing either unless it was the middle of a season.  All of these reasons make me a little sad that she's not playing anymore.  She's played some form of soccer since the 4th grade.  With the exception of when we moved and she wanted to take a year off to make new friends, she's played every season.  Sometimes two and three seasons.

I'm a little sad to see this portion of her life go away.  She was never the Star Player on any of her teams, but she really did enjoy playing the game.  She liked being known in her group of friends as the Soccer Player.  I asked her yesterday if she misses playing for the school.  She said she does miss playing but not enough to want to give up her social life or even Kitty.  She said she feels a little sad on game days when the team are all wearing their jerseys in school, but again not enough.  I asked her if she wants to participate in Park District soccer in the fall.  They only practice twice a week and have a game on Saturday.  She said she'll think about it.

I, for one, will be rejoicing in the fact that I don't have to shell out a ridiculous amount of money for travel soccer or a smaller yet still  ridiculous  amount of money for the school athletic fee.  I'd rather pay the $85 for the Park District.